RE: PistonHeads Classified Advert Scam

RE: PistonHeads Classified Advert Scam

Wednesday 16th January 2008

PistonHeads Classified Advert Scam

Latest scam details - please take the time to read.


Don't be parted from your hard earned
Don't be parted from your hard earned
As part of our ongoing investigation into scam advertisers using PistonHeads classifieds to part honest buyers from their hard earned cash, we have been working on ways to block the usual scams that appear on the site.

However, thanks to our readers we are now aware of a new scam that uses the PistonHeads name to lure you into parting with your money, it may be obvious to some that this is a scam, but we wanted to advise you of the latest threat.

One reader responded to an advert for a Renault Clio and received the following reply:

I am selling this car for £2,500 including delivery anywhere in UK.I set at a "very, very low" price to guarantee a sale. The only reason is that I  need cash for a family emergency. I have to tell you that I'm currently out of town with some major problems so pick up/view  isn't an option. If you want to buy this vehicle email me back with your full name and address to start the official procedure trough PistonHeads. They will send you a notification with ALL the info regarding delivery, purchase protection and refund policy so please provide your details before more questions. You will find 90% of answers in that notification from Pistonheads!

Reply to this and you will receive another reply:

Thank you very much. Your details have been noted. Please let me know as soon as you receive the notification from PistonHeads to move forward. The shipping costs are included in the price.Please follow PistonHeads instructions and send me the payment confirmation so I will start shipping asap.

Following this correspondence you will be asked to make payment- the web page you are directed to contains the following paragraphs:

PistonHeads insured this transaction at seller's request.With the new Classified Ad format, a vehicle may be insured at the full price.Buy a vehicle confidently with PistonHeads Motors protection programs.

The payment has to be sent using Money-Gram money transfer. We would like to confirm to you again that our seller, Patrick Mcmanamon is a verified PistonHeads Seller. Your transaction with Patrick Mcmanamon  is covered by Vehicle Purchase Protection and PistonHeads's Fraud Protection Plan  (PistonHeads Safe Harbor) .

The Vehicle Purchase Protection program helps protect your vehicle purchase against fraud and material misrepresentation. After you will send the payment via Money-Gram please contact the Seller at this e-mail address with the payment details:

It goes on to suggest your payment is protected by pistonheads.co.uk- note they do not use the pistonheads.com address.

Finally you will be sent a page entitled 'PistonHeads Purchase Protection Program, with the following words of advice at the end.

PistonHeads Customer Support
Please do not respond to this email with information regarding your case, as it can only be processed through the PistonHeads Customer Consultant website. If you have other questions, please contact us

In addition to this you can verify that the seller is safe, if you do you will receive an e mail suggesting that they are a PistonHeads verified user and all is well. They are not approved, in fact all they are verifying is the fact that they are a scammer.

PistonHeads has notified the relevant authorities and has requested that the website the scammers use be closed down.

In the meantime please be on your guard and be aware that Pistonheads do not offer an approved seller scheme, nor do we offer payment or transaction protection. If in any doubt note that PistonHeads correspondance will only be sent from an e mail address ending @pistonheads.com

     

    Author
    Discussion

    gti-ted

    Original Poster:

    1,025 posts

    208 months

    Tuesday 15th January 2008
    quotequote all
    Just had this one
    Scammer wrote back
    Hi Mate,
    I-d like to thank you for being interested in my car.The price i will sell it for is the one from the advert but we can discuss it .I'm the first owner of this car and as you can see in the pictures the car is in perfect condition with no technical damages at all, no scratches or dents, no hidden defects.I am not a smoker so the interior of the car is like new.This car will come with 20 Days Return Policy (in this 20 Days you can drive it or go with it at a service and test it) also the car has title of ownership, cleared of any obligations or fees.
    If you are ready to purchase it please get back to me so i can let you know more.
    Hope you will be de second owner of this car !

    I repied and got this
    This is how i propose to do the delivery and payment of the car.This is the best way for a buyer.First of all we will use a delivery company.With Free service because I will pay all taxes.The shipping company is called ExpressDeluxe ( web page : www.express-deluxe.com ).This is a great company.
    These are the steps that we will follow,first i will go with the car at the local ExpressDeluxe office from my town.They will verify the papers of the car to see if the car has any accidents,dameges or if it is stolen.After they do this they will contact you with the Buyer - Seller - Company contract.In this contract you will get all the details on this transaction.They will ask you for a deposite ( 50% from the car`s price ) .This is like a confirmation from the your part that you are a trusted buyer.This way they can make the contract from here on your name and when the car gets there they can validate the contract and you just sign and the car is yours.Of course after you test it,i think you will have 20 days to test it.
    To start this i need this details from your part:

    Full name .

    Full address .

    And contact details ,like phone numbers.

    After i have these details i will go with the car at the ExpressDeluxe office and start the transaction

    I just told him to GET a F%$@in proper job
    Not heard back from him :>(



    V8 OH NO

    1,052 posts

    239 months

    Tuesday 15th January 2008
    quotequote all
    Yep I had the Pistonheads one when enquiring about
    a Dodge Charger

    scotty_917

    1,034 posts

    221 months

    Tuesday 15th January 2008
    quotequote all
    Thanks for the heads-up G.......your zed looked good at the NEC.

    Dodgey_Rog

    1,986 posts

    259 months

    Tuesday 15th January 2008
    quotequote all
    My mate came across this scam but with Autotrader, it was for an Aston Martin. Apparently they are nasty b*stards and shouldn't antagonised, plus if they have your details already, be extremely wary and on your guard. Best to avoid everything that stinks to high heaven.

    Mind you, once this has been rumbles, they'll move on to another way to part people with their cash who think its too good to be true, it usual is.

    laser avant s2

    866 posts

    207 months

    Tuesday 15th January 2008
    quotequote all
    Havent been looking to buy recently but a few months back there were loads of e mail contact only ads which were duplicates from elsewhere ie Auto Trader etc that involved the ar5s who placed them e mailing you back saying "Hello my friend the car is with me in Italy as i moved here for work" etc etc notified the admin after i spotted the 2nd ad by the same losser.

    clubsport

    7,257 posts

    257 months

    Tuesday 15th January 2008
    quotequote all
    laser avant s2 said:
    Havent been looking to buy recently but a few months back there were loads of e mail contact only ads which were duplicates from elsewhere ie Auto Trader etc that involved the ar5s who placed them e mailing you back saying "Hello my friend the car is with me in Italy as i moved here for work" etc etc notified the admin after i spotted the 2nd ad by the same losser.
    I received that response when I enquired about an Audi A2 Tdi on pistonheads last week rolleyes



    (oh the shame!...it wasn't for me honest smile )

    Motorama

    433 posts

    217 months

    Tuesday 15th January 2008
    quotequote all
    I sold my 65 Mustang last week. It had been on PH as well as Ebay and Car Classic. I got a call from the buyer the day after he picked it up asking why i had readvertised the car for half price.
    I checked the ad and as well as using all my pics and spec it had similar content to the one mentioned above, i reported it to PH who removed it within minutes.
    Be careful out there!

    Mr Will

    13,719 posts

    205 months

    Tuesday 15th January 2008
    quotequote all
    mickken said:
    "If in any doubt note that PistonHeads correspondance will only be sent from an e mail address ending @pistonheads.com"

    Still beware......


    I get dodgy e-mails from banks asking for my details and the e-mails are all from the right addresses......technology has been around for a while to make it look like the right e-mail address.....bastards.
    It is possible to fake the "from" address, but if they do this then they will have to ask you to reply to another (non-pistonheads.com) address (or click on a link) so it should seem obviously dodgy.

    markCSC

    2,987 posts

    214 months

    Tuesday 15th January 2008
    quotequote all
    As they say

    "If it looks too good to be true... it is!"

    Stamp

    3,583 posts

    235 months

    Tuesday 15th January 2008
    quotequote all
    Wow, where can I get the sellers email address? I want a Clio and £2500 is a great price. Am I right, they will even deliver it to me.
    Fantastic!!!
    What a service.

    SIGN ME UP!

    RUSSELLM

    6,000 posts

    246 months

    Tuesday 15th January 2008
    quotequote all
    Dodgey_Rog said:
    Apparently they are nasty b*stards and shouldn't antagonised
    I haven't heard or seen anything to back this up. I go out of my way to nause & abuse them, I've had them on the phone before when I've been selling cars, and they end up putting the phone down on me smile

    SpeedyGonzales

    7,211 posts

    203 months

    Tuesday 15th January 2008
    quotequote all
    Cheers for the update PH!thumbup

    Wyvern971

    1,507 posts

    207 months

    Tuesday 15th January 2008
    quotequote all
    RUSSELLM said:
    Dodgey_Rog said:
    Apparently they are nasty b*stards and shouldn't antagonised
    I haven't heard or seen anything to back this up. I go out of my way to nause & abuse them, I've had them on the phone before when I've been selling cars, and they end up putting the phone down on me smile
    Phone them up and say the car is for your sun in Nigeria, and that as it's a birthday present and you want to send it ASAP you'll send extra to cover the shipping costs.......

    RUSSELLM

    6,000 posts

    246 months

    Tuesday 15th January 2008
    quotequote all
    smile

    one rang up when I was on the trade counter at work, I had three customers in at the time, and we took it in turns ripping the pi55 out of him . He said he was going to call back, but he never did smile

    .. al

    4,761 posts

    218 months

    Tuesday 15th January 2008
    quotequote all
    I got sent an e-mail earlier with an enquiry about this link

    http://www.wewillbuyyourcar.com

    My software tells me its ok, but be careful or check it yourselves. The company name is in Hull, but a search for the .co.uk details (registered at the same time as the .com) reveals the address to be in West Yorkshire.

    From the FAQ page:

    "Why can't I have cash for my car?

    It is simply not practical to carry large quantities of cash. From a security aspect we would not expect our collection drivers to drive around with thousands of pounds. We have also geared our business to operate quickly and efficiently and cannot spend time withdrawing and depositing cash at the bank".

    So it does wire transfers..

    Could be cushti, but there is no secure web commerce logo anywhere.

    Anyone familiar with it?



    Mr Will

    13,719 posts

    205 months

    Tuesday 15th January 2008
    quotequote all
    .. al said:
    I got sent an e-mail earlier with an enquiry about this link

    http://www.wewillbuyyourcar.com

    My software tells me its ok, but be careful or check it yourselves. The company name is in Hull, but a search for the .co.uk details (registered at the same time as the .com) reveals the address to be in West Yorkshire.

    From the FAQ page:

    "Why can't I have cash for my car?

    It is simply not practical to carry large quantities of cash. From a security aspect we would not expect our collection drivers to drive around with thousands of pounds. We have also geared our business to operate quickly and efficiently and cannot spend time withdrawing and depositing cash at the bank".

    So it does wire transfers..

    Could be cushti, but there is no secure web commerce logo anywhere.

    Anyone familiar with it?
    I think the advice of the wire transfer companies themselves is probably best here: wire transfers should only be used for sending money to people you know.

    the reason for this is the wire transfers are completely untraceable, once the money is collected at the other end the paper trail is broken and nobody has any records of where it goes next.

    A legitimate company will use bank transfers, check or credit cards or at least have more than one option. If someone trys to force you to pay in one particular way you should alway ask why!

    GingerNinja

    3,961 posts

    257 months

    Tuesday 15th January 2008
    quotequote all
    Why not include a scam warning and a link to this article with every ad in the classifieds?

    Jambon

    309 posts

    239 months

    Tuesday 15th January 2008
    quotequote all
    It may not be a bad suggestion but why don't Pistonheads publish a set of guidelines that they believe will help to protect both the buyer and seller when trying to sell their car online. Many of us are savvy but the fact is online scammers will try 30 times to get lucky, but it only takes one mug punter to make their effort pay off. All buyers and sellers need to do is be a little wary... There are folk out there who believe their fortune will be made by other's misfortune.

    texasjohn

    3,687 posts

    230 months

    Tuesday 15th January 2008
    quotequote all
    Thanks for the heads up PH!

    adie

    1 posts

    194 months

    Tuesday 15th January 2008
    quotequote all
    Who writes this stuff Shakespeare? "O clio, clio! wherefore art thou clio" ye wot ever..muppets